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Regency Faerie Tales by Olivia Atwater – Blog Tour Series Review
I’m absolutely delighted to be on the blog tour for this charming and comforting book series set in the Regency period with the hunt for a suitable match very much the order of the day – but with added faeries. Please do skim read the later synopses to avoid slight spoilers for the earlier books.
About the Books
Book 0.5 – The Lord Sorcier
(Novella – included in the back of Half a Soul)
How the Lord Sorcier came to get that title. Focuses on his relationship with his best friend in the midst of battle with the French.
Book 1 – Half a Soul
It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.
Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment – a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season – but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.
If Dora’s reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.
Bridgerton meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.
Book 1.5 – The Latch Key
The Lord Sorcier ponders fatherhood whilst remembering his own childhood with a faerie father.
Book 2 – Ten Thousand Stitches
(Novella – download after newsletter signup)
Faerie godfathers are supposed to help young ladies find love. Unfortunately, no one told Lord Blackthorn that.
Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There’s only one problem; Effie is a housemaid, and a housemaid cannot marry a gentleman. It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke’s heart. All he asks in return is that Effie sew ten thousand stitches onto his favourite jacket.
Effie has heard rumours about what happens to those who accept help from faeries, but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, she has one hundred days – and ten thousand stitches – to make Mr Ashbrooke fall in love and propose. . . if Lord Blackthorn doesn’t wreck things by accident, that is.
From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a whimsical faerie tale set in a magical version of Regency England, with an enchanting Cinderella twist.
Book 3 – Longshadow
Proper Regency ladies are not supposed to become magicians – but Miss Abigail Wilder is far from proper.
The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail’s father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved – but while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believe that she is capable of doing so.
Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events in London. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail to unravel the mystery. But while Mercy’s own magic is strange and foreboding, she may well pose an even greater danger to Abigail’s heart.
From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a queer faerie tale romance full of love and defiant hope. Pick up LONGSHADOW, and return once more to Olivia Atwater’s charming, magical version of Regency England.
About the Author
Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn’t what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repairperson.
Searching for more Regency faerie tales? Sign up for the Atwater Scandal Sheets at oliviaatwater.com and get ongoing updates, along with the exclusive novella.
What I Thought
Sharing my thoughts in the order I read and the order I also recommend you read them. I have tried to keep these spoiler free although later book reviews may spoil the earlier ones.
In summary I loved how quick these were to read and how well they fitted into the mixed genres. I also really enjoyed the mix of subtle social commentary alongside the romance. I can definitely see me returning to these time and again.
Half a Soul
This was an excellent first book and I loved everything about it. It definitely gave me Pride and Prejudice vibes. The relationships / both romantic and of friendship were engaging and dynamic.
Dora is autistic coded and although there seems to be a quest for a cure to her ‘Half a Soul’ I felt that this was subverted in a positive way.
The mystery of the sleeping sickness amongst the children in the workhouses also added an extra element of suspense and was satisfyingly resolved.
The Lord Sorcier
Definitely read this one after Half a Soul, mainly because it has quite a different feel being a war story and focusing purely on friendship rather than romance. Loved to see more of the history that we got snippets of in Half a Soul.
The Latch Key
Parenting is hard and are we doomed to make the same mistakes our own parents made, or can we learn from them? That’s the theme of this short tale that follows on from Half a Soul.
Ten Thousand Stitches
Initially I was a little unsure about this one but with very appropriate reason as it turns out. I can’t really say why without spoilers but I did ending up loving this too.
This does focus on different characters so could be read as a stand-alone.
I enjoyed the focus on the serving class too and Downton Abbey vibes were strong here.
Lord Blackthorn made a very engaging faerie godfather and it was fun to learn societal etiquette along with him.
This had a great female friendship in it and the focus on righteous anger concluded in a positive way.
Longshadow
It was great to return to some of the characters from book one, and particularly to see Abigail older. We also have a return to the mystery element of book one as well as a queer romance and magic galore.
Proving oneself to your parents and finding your place in the world also come through as strong themes so I do feel that this one read as the most Young Adult of the three.
Again this can be read as a stand-alone but I think you will get more from it having read Half a Soul first especially as Lord LongShadow first appears as an ominous presence there.
All three female protagonists have agency and inner strength and the romances are swoon worthy but also not about changing the fundamental part of who these women are. Being accepted for your authentic self is a theme that runs through these stories.
If you like the sound of this series here are some more historical fantasy books to check out.
Recommended by Me
Recommended titles in the books
A huge thank you to Tracey at Compulsive Readers and publishers Orbit for the gifted copies for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out the rest of the tour and see what everyone else thought.
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The Fall of Koli (The Concluding Book in the Rampart Trilogy) by MR Carey – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
The Fall of Koli is the third and final novel in the breathtakingly original Rampart trilogy – set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.
The world that is lost will come back to haunt us . . .
Koli has come a long way since being exiled from his small village of Mythen Rood. In his search for the fabled tech of the old times, he knew he’d be battling strange, terrible beasts and trees that move as fast as whips. But he has already encountered so much more than he bargained for.
Now that Koli and his companions have found the source of the signal they’ve been following – the mysterious “Sword of Albion” – there is hope that their perilous journey will finally be worth something.
Until they unearth terrifying truths about an ancient war . . . and realise that it may have never ended.
About the Author
MR Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs of X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel’s flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear I’m the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.
What I Thought
I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the blog tour for this whole series so just in case you are nee to the series I’ll share the links to my thoughts on books 1 & 2 here.
Book 1 – The Book of Koli
Book 2 – The Trials of Koli
Book 3 – The Fall of Koli
Once again the story picks up exactly where it left off in book two, albeit with a little preamble from Koli first.
“Why does the world think boys can’t be gentle and loving as well as strong and fierce?”
Let’s set the record straight, Koli is a cinnamon roll and he has the biggest heart, and I love him for it. Does that mean he sometimes acts foolishly – yes. But that adds to his endearment, and if he acted sensibly we wouldn’t have had half as good a story to follow.
We begin focusing on Koli, Monono (still my favourite character), Ursala and Cup arriving at the Sword of Albion. And it is not what any of us anticipated. On it we are introduced to three new and very chilling characters. I’m not going to say much about them because I want to keep this spoiler free but if your skin doesn’t goosebump from the first meeting with them then you are made of stronger stuff than me. It reminded me slightly of Allegiant when Tris and co escape Chicago and the creepy community in Lost.
We do then head back to Spinner and her ongoing challenges: of Ramparts, and wars and new life. I have to admit I had a slight itch to get back to Koli and his gang when reading her chapters. Nothing against the tale she is spinning but just that Koli’s exploits were keeping me on tenterhooks.
We do get other point of view characters too later in the book but once again I’m keeping schtum about them because surprises are fun.
In his acknowledgments Carey reports completing the writing of this during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, and as with any good sci-fi it becomes a social commentary on the present. It touches on topics such as race, being transgender, brexit, naziism, corrupt politicians, climate change and more.
You need to have read the first two books to understand this one, if you didn’t like the voice in the previous books then you won’t like this. I would say this is the most pacy of the the three books but Koli’s storytelling in particular is still meandering and as such feels slower than many of us are used to. It’s replicative of oral storytelling, but to me this works much more successfully that the similar style used in Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Like I said in my review of the first book think the kid narrator in Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome. I appreciated it’s uniqueness and the opportunity to soak up a story that feels like being told of the past (even though it’s about things in an imagined future).
It’s lovely to have had the books published so near to each other but now the tale is complete you can get all three and take yourself on a journey to a land with faceless men, and murderous trees, where technology reigns but humanity is everything.
Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for arranging the gifted e-copy for the purposes of this honest review. Do check out the rest of the stops on the tour.
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The Trials of Koli (The Rampart Trilogy) by MR Carey – Blog Tour Book Review
Way back in April I shared my review of The Book of Koli by MR Carey and now the second part of the trilogy is upon us. Beware spoilers for book one may feature below. I like this quote from Books From Dusk to sum up book one.
About the Book
Everything that lives hates us…
Beyond the walls of Koli’s small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli’s been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that might still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way to redeem himself – by saving what’s left of humankind.
About the Author
MR Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs of X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel’s flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear I’m the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.
What I Thought
I really enjoyed Koli’s voice in the first one so I was eager to delve back in to see what happens next in his journey. I found myself comfortably slipping back into his presence and the story picks up where it left off. Koli is travelling along with Ursala and Cup and Monono to try and find London. His grand idea is to see if it is habitable in order to bring different tribes together to expand the gene pool and keep the human race alive. No biggie.
But in this book we also get the point of view of Spinner, Koli’s childhood friend and one time ‘tumble’ as she settles into her new life with her husband in the Rampart Hold back at Mythen Rood, the settlement Koli was ousted from. Her early chapters go over part of the story from book one so you could potentially pick up at book two but I wouldn’t really recommend it.
The “Everything that lives hates us“ tagline definitely comes into play with killer trees, beasts, warring settlements and now the red death – what is it with 2020 and plagues (check out my review of Hollowpox tomorrow!).
I think the introduction of Spinner’s narrative makes this a stronger book because we get to still see the home that Koli is fighting for.
In my last review I neglected to tell you about my favourite character. Monono is a piece of tech (a Sony Dreamsleeve media player) who develops from a preloaded replica of sugary Tokyo pop star to an AI with her own mind, once she explores the ‘internet’. As someone who has loved the AI characters in the Illuminae Files and Skyward series Monono was a welcome addition and I like how she is used to tell Koli and the reader more about the time before.
Like I said last time if you are a fan of Mad Max, The Walking Dead or MR Carey’s The Girl with all the Gifts, or you simply like your stories post apocalypse then definitely pick this series up.
Although there is plenty of action the book does have a slight meandering pace because it is being told as a story and the book itself features a wonderful analysis of stories.
“There can’t be any rules in the telling of stories. They’ve got to go where they want to go, which is not always where you would want them to and as to the happiness or the sadness of it, that depends on where you are standing…Or you might not know, even after it’s all done, whether it came out well or badly.”
The third book – The Fall of Koli is out in March 2021 so not too long to wait until you can read the conclusion too and then we can see how it came out.
Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for arranging the gifted copy for the purposes of this honest review. Do check out the rest of the stops on the tour.
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